It’s being called ‘a bombshell’: today, as the instruction phase of the massive case against former prime minister José Sócrates and various associates resumes in Lisbon, defence lawyers for one of the principal defendants are described as ready for attack.
They claim their client has discovered that he was being ‘covertly’ but minutely investigated “for more than a decade” – totally undermining laws of the time governing fiscal and banking secrecy.
Accused of 33 crimes connected to his alleged position as the keeper of José Sócrates’ perceived ill-gotten gains, Carlos Santos Silva argues that there can be no case if the investigations backing it up were illegal.
Marquês has been years in the making. Indeed it has been over six years since Sócrates was unceremoniously driven off to jail – only to emerge months later due to the fact the investigation was taking so long.
There have always been those who insist this case will never get to trial (click here).
